Popular veteran owned business is introducing handpies to the region
The Handpie Guy is selling hundreds of the sweet or savory treats daily at its Tupelo location
TUPELO, MISS, (WCBI) – It is lunchtime, and business is hopping at The Handpie Guy.
Ryan Tate opened The Handpie Guy inside the Change Skate shop last year and quickly outgrew the space. He moved to this free standing location in the West Main Shopping Center and has found a growing customer base for the sweet and savory treats.
“It is like a fried pie, except we don’t use grease, fresh baked, all the dough is made in house by us everyday,” Tate said.
Tate says handpies are often compared to empanadas, but there is a big difference.
“Empanada in Spanish means, meat pie, we do fruit and we kind of Americanized it . We do on dessert side, Bavarian cream, peach cobbler, today is cinnamon apple, sweet potato today,” Tate said.
Tate is a veteran of the U S Army, and says his time in the military gave him a strong work ethic, and discipline.
“When I say I will be there at four in the morning, I am probably there at three thirty in the morning, I am never late, they taught me a lot of hard work,” Tate said.
Tate and his wife will soon move to Petal, where the handpie business got its start. But he’s leaving the Tupelo location in good hands. Michael Parker started working with Tate at the skate shop and is looking forward to running the popular business.
“I was in construction, brick layer, hard work, and so was this guy, but he got into this and said, you want to learn it, ? I said sure, always up for something new, I was also an exterminator for fourteen years, this is way better,” said Parker.
On most days, customers purchase 500 to 600 handpies at The Handpie Guy. And on the rare occasion there are leftovers, the handpies are donated to the nearby fire station, or given to homeless people.
You can keep up with the weekly menus on The Handpie Guy’s Facebook page.
